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Abigail Riccards
"Abigail Riccards has, across a decade-long career, mastered the increasingly dangerous art of making less more. Think Doris Day with Anita O'Day jazz smarts." ~Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes, Nov. 2013
About Me
Abigail Riccards has, across a decade-long career, mastered the increasingly dangerous
art of making less more. Think Doris Day with Anita O'Day jazz smarts.
-- Christopher Loudon, - JazzTimes, Nov. 2013
Abigail Riccards has garnered much attention from the jazz community for her effortless
swing, heartbreaking tone, and personalized approach to lyrics. Abigail's inimitable
approach to the Great American Songbook has made her one of the most celebrated jazz
vocalists of her generation.
Performing in Chicago since 2011, Abigail has quickly established herself as one of the
rising vocalists on the scene. She has performed at many of the city’s top jazz clubs with
some of Chicago's most respected musicians, headlining at venues such as the Green Mill,
the Jazz Showcase, Katerina’s, and Andy's Jazz Club.
Prior to her move to the windy city, Abigail was an active artist in New York’s jazz scene.
She has repeatedly performed at many of the most treasured venues in NYC, including
being a frequent favorite at Birdland, the Jazz Standard, Smoke, Smalls, the Kitano, Sweet
Rhythm, and 55Bar. Abigail has also collaborated with many of the best jazz musicians in
the world including Michael Kanan, Peter Bernstein, David Berkman, Mulgrew Miller, Spike
Wilner, Neal Miner, Jay Leonhart, Steve LaSpina, Lee Hudson, Tony Romano, Brad Shepik,
Matt Wilson, Bill Goodwin, Rick Montalbano, Elliot Zigmund, Joel Frahm, Adam Kolker, and
Ron Horton.
Abigail’s most recent studio album, Every Little Star which is coproduced by world
renowned recording artists Jane Monheit was released in April. The album features classics
from the Great American Songbook, original tunes, and a stunning duet with Monheit
herself. All of the proceeds of this album go to benefit a fantastic NYC based nonprofit
called ArtStrides (www.artstrides.org). The album features sensational musicians such as
Peter Bernstein, Michael Kanan, Neal Miner, and Elliot Zigmund. Nick DeRiso calls the
album a “completely enchanting recording,” and writes “Riccards has brought a sense of
child-like wonder to a project meant to ensure that the next generation shares it, too.”
Abigail's first album, When the Night Is New was released as one of the most impressive
debut albums of 2007. It featured the talents of David Berkman, Ben Allison, Matt Wilson,
Adam Kolker, Ron Horton, Lage Lund, Rogerio Boccato and was produced by Dena DeRose.
Ken Dryden calls it an outstanding debut effort by the promising jazz vocalist Abigail
Riccards. Abigail followed it up with her 2011 release Soft Rains Fall, an intimate collection
of jazz and popular standards, recorded in a duo setting with nylon string guitarist, Tony
Romano.
In 2000, she was also selected to participate in the Jazz in July workshop at the University
of Massachusetts in Amherst and competed in the 2006 Fish Middleton Competition, where
she was a semi-finalist. In 2004, Abigail was selected to be a semi-finalist in the
prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, where she competed at the
Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C for judges such as Kurt Elling, Al Jarreau, Jimmy
Scott and Dee Dee Bridgewater.
Since earning her Master's Degree, Abigail has also become
an active music educator. She teaches privately and conducts many college workshops.
Recently, she has conducted vocal jazz workshops at Hunter College and Clark University.
Abigail was also selected as a collaborator for David Berkman's The Jazz Singer's
Guidebook: A Course in Jazz Harmony and Scat Singing for the Serious Jazz Vocalist on
which she recorded the vocal examples for the accompanying CD. Abigail is also a licensed
Music Together instructor and brings her knowledge of cognitive musical development to
the forefront of her teaching approach, an approach that effectively merges her extensive
performance experience and her sensitivity to different students and learning approaches.